Men and things, women and people: A meta-analysis of sex differences in interests.

Abstract

The magnitude and variability of sex differences in vocational interests were examined in the present meta-analysis for Holland's (1959, 1997) categories (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional), Prediger's (1982) Things-People and Data-Ideas dimensions, and the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) interest areas. Technical manuals for 47 interest inventories were used, yielding 503,188 respondents. Results showed that men prefer working with things and women prefer working with people, producing a large effect size (d = 0.93) on the Things-People dimension. Men showed stronger Realistic (d = 0.84) and Investigative (d = 0.26) interests, and women showed stronger Artistic (d = -0.35), Social (d = -0.68), and Conventional (d = -0.33) interests. Sex differences favoring men were also found for more specific measures of engineering (d = 1.11), science (d = 0.36), and mathematics (d = 0.34) interests. Average effect sizes varied across interest inventories, ranging from 0.08 to 0.79. The quality of interest inventories, based on professional reputation, was not differentially related to the magnitude of sex differences. Moderators of the effect sizes included interest inventory item development strategy, scoring method, theoretical framework, and sample variables of age and cohort. Application of some item development strategies can substantially reduce sex differences. The present study suggests that interests may play a critical role in gendered occupational choices and gender disparity in the STEM fields.

Gender differences in narcissism: A meta-analytic review.

“…This timing thus makes it difficult in a practical sense to comprehensively evaluate whether gender differences in narcissism are decreasing on the basis of women's changing social roles (because most of the social role change predates the boom in quantitative research on narcissism in the U.S.). By contrast, all of the other previously mentioned studies on women's changing agentic characteristics over time covered considerably longer time spans than that available for narcissism; that is, Eagly and Karau (1991) extended back to 1956; Konrad et al (2000) extended back to 1972; Leaper andAyres (2007) extended back to 1962;Su et al (2009Su et al ( ) extended back to 1965Twenge (1997Twenge ( ) extended back to 1973and Twenge (2001) extended back to 1931. Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Campbell, and Bushman (2008) briefly discussed changes in the narcissism gender difference over time in the context of a meta-analysis focused on "generation me" or increases in undergraduates' narcissism over time.…”

Machiavellianism, emotional manipulation, and friendship functions in women's friendships

“…Previous research has established that Machiavellianism is associated with emotional manipulation and managing the emotions of others in general (Austin et al, 2007;Austin & O'Donnell, 2013), but the current studies extended that research by focusing on the use of these strategies in a specific context of women's same-sex friendships. Machiavellianism in one party may support the use of emotional manipulation strategies (Ináncsi et al, 2015;Su et al, 2009;Vigil, 2007). Employing these strategies towards one person may be less risky for women higher on Machiavellianism than engaging in relational aggression, which requires the assistance of others.…”

“…Women report a greater focus on interpersonal relationships (Su, Rounds, & Armstrong, 2009), which may in part reflect a greater reliance on female friends when faced with adaptive problems such as finding a mate (Jonason & Schmitt, 2012;Silverman & Choi, 2005). Women spend more time discussing feelings and personal information and their friendships tend to be dyadic in nature, which does not allow for substitute partners if relationships break down (Benenson & Christakos, 2003;David-Barrett et al, 2015;Vigil, 2007).…”

Preferences, constraints, and the process of sex segregation in college majors: A choice analysis

“…A large body of psychological research confirms that women are substantially more interested in social and artistic activities, whereas men more frequently indicate interest in technical and scientific tasks (Su et al, 2009 for a review). Mann and DiPrete (2013) show that gender differences in test scores and life goals fail to account for the underrepresentation of women in STEM majors and interpret the unexplained gap as an effect of gendered preferences.…”

“…Based on a meta-analysis of 108 interest studies that were conducted mostly on young people, Su et al (2009) report that (net of cohort effects) gender differences are larger in young years than later in life. In a retrospect of 35 years of research on the subject, Eccles (2007) also concludes that gender differences in the value placed on science and engineering related vocations start to build up early in life, long before the transition from high school to college.…”